Page 5 of Harrowing Hall
“Aye, I am afraid Lord MacLauchlin’s love was frightened off, to be sure.” Jane gave Maude a look that could only be described as compassionate pity. “And can you blame her? Blame anyone who might flee such a thing?” Again acting like the lady of the castle, Jane requested more claret be brought up when a servant dropped off a tray of tea and sweets. “I hope you do not think me too forward for sharing such, Maude. I just thought you should know lest you decide to stay on too long.”
“I do not think you forward at all.”Just determined to have Blake, though your flirtatiousness with him does not ring true.“I appreciate your honesty and will take it under advisement.”
“Verra good.” Relief flashed in Jane’s sky-blue eyes. “I do wish you the verra best and will understand entirely if you do not stay on through All Saints.”
Before she could reply, Jane curtsied and swept out of the room as though the matter were settled.
“How interesting,” she murmured, more intrigued by the moment. Not just by Castle MacLauchlin’s token ghost but by Jane herself. She would have to learn more about her the first chance she got.
“When you visit MacLauchlin Castle, do not feel the need to befriend everyone,” her sister Prudence had written. “For it is unseemly given you are being treated as more than a commoner.”
She had rolled her eyes when she read that. For what was the point of going somewhere like this and not getting to know everyone? And once upon a time, Prudence would have agreed but had since grown uptight about everything. Then again, who could blame her considering her belated husband? He had been cruel and unloving. Everything Maude loathed in a man.
Everything Blake MacLauchlin was not.
So no, she would not be scared off by a woman, be she ethereal or flesh and blood.
She would, however, make it her mission to solve not one but two mysteries.
Chapter Four
Later that evening,Blake tried to wait for Maude to come downstairs as Jane suggested was proper, but he could not help himself. He and Maude’s relationship had not started by following the rules of decorum, so why should he abide by such now? Especially since he meant to keep her by his side always.
So when minutes felt like hours waiting for her to come down, he headed upstairs only to stop halfway. She had made it clear she did not want to follow the stuffy rules of lords and ladies but do things as they would. Flaunt their friendship every bit as much as the feelings they had come to feel for one another.
Yet, still. Was he treating her like a commoner by not going about things properly? By not waiting for her to make an appearance? He eyed his MacLauchlin kinsmen staring down from their lofty perches on the wall. What would they do?
“Why ask them?” he was certain Maude would say if she were standing here. “Why not forge your own way and do whatyouwant to do?”
“Aye, lass.” So, he bounded up the stairs, lighter on his feet than he had been in years, only to find her door ajar. He meant to speak when he spied her by the window looking down at the forest, but his breath caught.
The lady’s maid he had sent up had, if possible, turned Maude into more of an enchantress than she already was. Her locks were swept up with her token flyaway curls, and her melon-colored dress fit perfectly. Her expression was whimsical, as though she watched some enchanting fairytale unfold.
“Mo leannan,” he managed softly, loathe to interrupt the moment. “You look,” ravishing, delectable, “beautiful.”
“Blake.” Her face lit up, making his heart swell. Nobody had ever looked at him like she did. As though nothing made her happier than seeing him. “It really is lovely here.” She held out her hand that he join her. “Most especially the music.”
“What music?” He closed the distance and took her hand. Wished he could pull her into his arms. Wanted to skip all the formalities between now and where he hoped they would soon be.
“The bagpipes.” Her smile grew wider, her eyes happier still. “The moment they began playing, I opened my door, so I could hear them, then decided to stay here a bit longer just to….” Her hand fluttered to her heart. She closed her eyes in pleasure. “Just to listen to them for a time before I joined everyone. They are just so…welcoming.”
Before he could respond, her eyes shot open, a little teary. “At first, the sound broke my heart.” Fresh joy made her face light up all over again, and his heart flipped. “Then something changed…I heard it more clearly. The hope behind it….”
Hope? Bagpipes?He had no idea what she was talking about. Yet he could not help but wonder, as rumor had it Lady Annabel had the pipes played nightly so that her son might find his way home. Regardless, despite the knowledge having been handed down through the generations, there was no record of it. God’s truth, until now, nobody had ever heard phantom bagpipes at this time of year. At any time, actually.
“That sounds lovely.” What else to say? He narrowed his eyes a little. “Only, I am not sure to what you are referring.” He glanced from the open door back to her. “There is no music playing, Maude.” He shook his head. “No pipes.”
“Well, of course, there is.” She glanced from the door back to him as well and chuckled. “Surely you jest?”
Unsure what else to say, worried about her, he shook his head slowly.
Her brows lowered. “Truly?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Truly.”
“You cannot be serious?”
“Yet I am.”
